Hiroshi Okuyama delivers an impressive second feature film, “My Sunshine,” an engaging humanistic drama about youths bonding through ice skating. Following his debut movie “Jesus” and his collaboration with Hirokazu Koreeda for the Netflix series “The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House,” Okuyama brings viewers into a familiar yet immersive coming-of-age story with additional depth to help it stand out. The picture made its premiere at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival, receiving a nomination for the Queer Palm.
My Sunshine is screening at Melbourne International Film Festival
Winter has begun on a quiet Japanese island. It is the time for many youths to play ice hockey. Yet Takuya isn’t enthused, merely participating because of parental pressures. Additionally, he deals with personal insecurities due to living with a speech disorder. However, he one day takes notice of Sakura, a reserved girl from Tokyo with a talent for ice skating. Her evolving skills as an ice dancer are enhanced by the guidance of coach Arakawa, a former champion who happens to be gay. Takuya is interested in the sport but needs help getting the hang of it. Arakawa notices and sees potential in him, so he takes the boy in as an apprentice, and through his mentorship, the child gradually improves while forming a friendship with Sakura. A warm bond develops between the two apprentices with the positive guidance of their mentor, and the young skaters plan to participate in an upcoming tournament. However, one bad decision fueled by the pressuring, strict, conservative notions of Japanese culture would soon test this dynamic as the season passes.
Figure skating is a key narrative element, but the bigger picture of “My Sunshine” is a story of youthful bonding through common interest as they find personal comfort, some of which draws direct influence from Hiroshi Okuyama’s own childhood. As winter passes and snow blankets the landscape, progression occurs naturally for these characters, who all have unique qualities that help them stand out beyond surface-level traits. Takuya, with his stutter, is plagued by social anxieties and feels lost among his hockey peers. Despite her talents, Sakura primarily keeps to herself while frequently pressured by her mother to achieve complete perfection. Yet, their engagement in the same sport and subsequent interactions that follow as Arakawa mentors them ignite a friendship that initially seemed unobtainable. Through practicing figure skating, these two youths can feel at ease with their existence while connecting with one another despite their polar opposite personalities and motivations.
Additionally, “My Sunshine” takes an interesting approach to depicting the mentor. In countless sports movies, it’s quite common for a coach character to be portrayed as hard-edged while ultimately having a softer side. Here, Arakawa demonstrates authoritative guidance in the various training montages with the two leads, without ever losing his temper. He’s precise and meticulous in his instructions but never harsh, seeing the potential of the training skaters. Having had a life-long interest in skating and being a former champion, Arakawa understands Takuya’s early trials and Sakura’s determination to improve her craft. Through natural progression, he goes beyond being a great teacher but an all-around positive surrogate family figure in their lives, starkly contrasting the children’s overtly strict parents. Additionally, as Arakawa is gay in a country where LGBTQ inequality and discrimination remain ongoing issues, he knows what it’s like to feel shunned by the world.
Along with the endearing warmth from these character dynamics, a driving element in “My Sunshine” is how the film uses its surprisingly critical approach to socially conservative aspects of Japanese culture. For centuries, Japan has withheld a standard of pursuing perfection regardless of personal attachment and well-being, along with ideal perceptions of right and wrong. The audience sees this play out from the perspectives of two young leads and how this can be quite taxing. Takuya and Sakura are overwhelmed by the pressures of the authoritative figures in their lives, with Arakawa being the exception. Additionally, the more judgemental aspects of these upbringings are prominently highlighted by Takuya being seen as weird for living with a speech impediment and one bad decision a character makes later in the film that ties into the continuous issue of discrimination in Japan.
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Furthermore, the changing seasons effectively symbolize the film’s themes, with the snow melting as winter turns into spring. Direction and writing hit all the right emotional notes with subtle simplicity, never petering into predictable schmaltzy melodrama. An endearing, gentle warmth persists throughout, and when it transitions into the more dramatic elements, it does so without tonal whiplashes.
Fantastic performances add needed believability for this quiet story and its character dynamics to come together. While implementing their real-life ice skating skills, Keitatsu Koshiyama and Kiara Takanashi naturally slip into their roles as Takuya and Sakura, two socially lost youths trying to find their way as they gradually form a friendship. Moreover, Sosuke Ikematsu does great job here as their coach, Arakawa, who is an excellent mentor and positive figure in their lives. The fact that Hiroshi Okuyama allowed for a lot of improvisation during production between the actors does give an additional authenticity, such as an endearing sequence where the three stars skate and have fun within an open landscape as the sun shines upon them.
Hiroshi Okuyama not only directs, writes, and edits the feature but is also responsible for the transcendent cinematography. There are many striking images, from the luscious snowy landscapes to the heavenly-lit ice skating rink. Furthermore, Okuyama knows how to incorporate classical music to accompany a scene, as highlighted by the way Claude Debussy’s composition “Clair de Lune” is utilized throughout the film. The same applies to licensed songs like the Zombies’ rendition of Teddy Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein’s “Goin’ Out My Head” in how they accompany their respective scenes. Lastly, the theme song “My Sunshine” by Ryosei Sato and Yuho Sano is a bittersweet tune.
“My Sunshine” is a warm, meditative film about repressed people coming together as they share a common interest. Beyond that warmth is the deeper subtext examining the conservative social pressures of Japanese culture. Hiroshi Okuyama’s thematic storytelling of outsiders bonding will touch and challenge viewers.
